Sunday, May 25, 2014

I hope you're enjoying all the watercolor ideas over the past week. Today is the last day and I will share Day 6 and 7 cards. Here are the links in case you missed any posts this week...DAY ONEDAY TWODAY THREEDAY FOURDAY FIVE

The first card is one of my favorite cards I've ever made. I just love the colors and how the die-cuts flowers pop against the white card base...

I layered two very bright and bold Peerless Watercolors on top of each other onto an embossed piece of watercolor cardstock, drying in between each layer. I cut some flowers out of THIS die, added THIS sentiment and some black thread onto an embossed white card base. A closer look...

HERE'S A TIP: Make good use out of the hard work you did. There wasn't much watercolor paper left from this project but I used my heart border punch to punch out several hearts from the negative space for a future card. You can also use the entire negative piece on another card and layer some patterned paper behind it...

Now it's time to share the last card of the Watercolor Week Series. This is a card I created for my hubby for Father's Day...

This card was inspired by Tim Holtz in Watercolor Class. He taught us how to stamp with a stencil using Watercolors created with Distress Inks. I didn't have lots of water on my stencil so it gave a dry look, which I like for the masculine feel of this card. A closer look...

Friday, May 23, 2014

Today's card features a super fun technique that I learned from Jennifer Rzasa in Watercolor Class. You add salt to the watercolor while its still wet and it moves the color around and gives great results. I tried it for the background of this card...

I used some Light Green Peerless Watercolor and water and added it to my cardstock to create a background. Then I sprinkled on some table salt in different areas and let it air dry. Once dry, I rubbed the salt off with my fingers. It does all the work for you and I LOVE the results. You can also see where I put the salt. It gives it an "oxidized" look with tiny, brown specs...

I wanted to keep the card simple and keep the focus on that amazing background so I die-cut a Papertrey Ink Speech Bubble die in the matching watercolor cardstock several times and glued them together, creating an inlaid, raised embellishment. I stamped the sentiment on top with THIS stamp set as well as those stars. I mounted the piece onto a black card base.

Now because I cut the speech bubble from the watercolor piece, I had an awesome little die that I just had to use on a card so I thought I would share a bonus card with you...

I did the same raised embellishment as the other card by cutting out several more of that speech bubble image and adhering them together. I decided to place the stars in the same spot as the first card but use silver embossing powder...

Here's a great tip I've learned-EMBRACE THE IMPERFECTION! When I heat embossed my first star, The embossing powder showed up in areas that I did not intend it to. So instead of ditching the card and starting over, I embraced the imperfection. I decided to add more Versamark with a pen and create a messy, faux spray mist look. I like how it turned out!

Okay, I'll be back tomorrow with yet another watercolor card. Thanks for stopping by!

Today's card was inspired by a card Laura Sterckx did for class. I used my bone folder and the crease in my paper trimmer to emboss lines in my cardstock. I used the debossed side. Not only does it give the background great texture, but also creates tunnels that the color spread out from. It's hard to explain, but so beautiful in real life.

Also, I wanted an ombre effect. So I added a very small amount of water towards the left side of the card and then gradually added more water towards the right side. More water equals lighter color. Less water equals more intense color.

I wanted a pop of color to be on the inside of the card instead of just white, so I turned the card inside out...

I finished off the card by heat embossing THIS lovely greeting in white and adding some enamel dots and a button.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Hello! Welcome back to Watercolor Week. We are on Day Three, but if you missed Day One, you can find it HERE. Day Two can be found HERE. Okay, let's get right to today's card...

This card was quick and easy, just the way I like. I bought some Peerless Watercolors recently and I've been eager to try them out. So I picked the color Sky Blue and did a wash over the front of my Distress Watercolor Cardstock. I let it dry and did another wash on top to get more of an intense color. That's it. I told you it was quick and easy. :)

I absolutely love the "creaminess" of the watercolor once it dries. Just gorgeous....

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Hello and welcome back to Watercolor Week! If you missed Day One, you can find it HERE. Here is today's card...

I used Distress Inks again to create this watercolor background. I used Squeezed Lemonade and Barn Door inks together to create this yummy peach color. After the piece was dry, I went in with some Barn Door distress ink with a blending tool and a stencil to add a small section of pattern.

I raised the heart image I cut from the background by layering many pieces of yellow cardstock that I cut from the same Hero Arts heart die. I traced around the heart image with a white gel pen to give it some definition.

I also found a fun technique by accident! I heat embossed the sentiment with clear embossing powder thinking I grabbed white embossing powder. You couldn't see it well and I thought I ruined the card. Then I heat embossed the sentiment again right on top of the clear embossed sentiment but this time using white embossing powder. I positioned the sentiment off slightly from the one beneath. It's hard to tell in the photo but it gives a great shadow. A happy accident!

To finish off the card I adhered it to a grey card base and added a strip of yellow cardstock along with some awesome sequins. Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back tomorrow with another share...

Monday, May 19, 2014

Hello. I've been posting many cards using watercolor lately because I took the Watercolor for Card Makers Class from Online Card Classes. I'm still going through some of the lessons and have many cards piling up so I thought it would be fun to do a watercolor week on my blog. So every day this week you will find a new card featuring watercolor techniques.

For today's card, I was inspired to stamp with watercolor. I also wanted to challenge myself and make a masculine card, so I went with a blue, orange, and yellow color scheme...

To create my pattern, I started with a chevron stamp from Studio Calico and inked it with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink and then spritzed it with water before stamping on watercolor cardstock. I repeated this step with Squeezed Lemonade and Peacock Feathers Distress Ink. I love the "messy", watercolor look it creates...

To finish off the card, I stamped the happy birthday sentiment from Studio Calico in black ink and then mounted it on a black card base. Super simple.

I hope I've inspired you to create some Watercolor Stamping. Have a great Monday and see you tomorrow!

Thursday, May 15, 2014

I am so glad that I decided to create an acetate challenge over on the Little Tangles Blog. I love the fun and unexpected look of acetate, but it sometimes can be tricky to work with. However, when creating this project, I stumbled upon a great tip that may work for some of you that are intimated by acetate (like me).

Here is my card for the challenge...

I decided to use acetate as my card base. My favorite acetate cards are THESE from Hero. They are high quality and are easy to work with. I stamped my new favorite greeting on the front of the acetate card using white Staz-On ink. Well, I must have had that ink pad for quite some time because the ink was kind of dull. So I restamped it. It looked okay but you still couldn't see it well.

Here's the tip...If you're looking for that bright white look on acetate, use the staz-on as something for a White Gel Pen to grip to. I simply traced the image with my white pen and the only way for it to not smear on the acetate is to have the staz-on ink as a base. This would work for black as well. Here's a closer look (You can see the Staz-On ink. It almost serves as a shadow, a cool effect)

To finish the card, I created a watercolor panel to go behind (on the inside of the card). I punched a 3x4 rectangle with THIS punch out of THIS paper and used Wild Honey, Peacock Feathers, and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks with water. I flicked some pearlized water on top to give spots of shine. Adhering this is the tricky part because of the clear card. I used glossy accents in tiny dots behind the words of the sentiment. It took some time but you don't see any adhesive that way.

I also added some black and white twine to the side of the card to appear as it is floating. I really like how it turned out! I hope you can enter your acetate card HERE for a chance to win a Neat and Tangled Stamp Set of your choice.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Hello and welcome. I hope your week is going well. As promised, I wanted to share the card I created from the left over die cut word from THIS card. I LOVE getting more mileage out of one card. Why not make two cards instead of one when you've already done most of the work?!

I started to create this card by masking the center of some Watercolor Cardstock with a heart punched from Masking Paper. Then I stamped different size circles (from a "vintage" Hero Arts set) using Peacock Feathers, Squeezed Lemonade, and Mowed Lawn Distress Inks. I love these inks because they activate with water just like watercolors. I took a paintbrush with water and "colored"each circle to get it to spread out and achieve a watercolor look.

Once dry, I removed the heart mask and adhered the left over "love you" die cut word, after cutting the word out of white cardstock several times to get a raised embellishment look. I finished it off with glossy accents and adhered it to a green card base.

I also punched out some hearts out of my practice paper to include on the inside of the card for a finishing touch...

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Happy Mother's Day! I have a quick share today that shows how you can get your kids involved in card making. You've probably noticed from my last few projects that I've been loving to watercolor on my cards. So, I thought it would be fun to get Aiden involved to make my mom's card for Mother's Day this year. He had so much fun...

I broke out his Crayola Jumbo Watercolor Set that he received in his Easter Basket and let him paint several pieces of Watercolor Paper. I took one of the pieces and punched out six hearts to create a Mother's Day Card...

I finished it off with some dry embossing to the background and a sentiment from Hero Arts. A simple and fun project for both mom and son!

I hope this inspires you to get your kids involved in your crafting. Have a great Mother's Day!

In class, Laura showed us how to create a watercolor background using an acrylic block, some distress inks, and water. I wanted to do a bright rainbow pattern so I used Barn Door, Wild Honey, Mowed Lawn, and Peacock Feathers Distress Ink.

I wanted to keep the rest of the card super simple to keep focus on the fun background so I inlaid the love you die-cut into the background piece and added a few black hearts punched from cardstock. I also added a little shimmer to them with my Wink of Stella Pen...

If you want to get some inspiration or learn more about incorporating watercolor on your cards, check out the class info HERE.

I'll be back soon with another card I created with the leftover pieces from this card! Stay tuned...

To finish off my card, I adhered my background to a grey card base and stamped the sentiments from THIS stamp set onto some die-cut banners. I also added some of THESE yummy sequins.

I hope you can create a mint and peach masterpiece and enter it HERE. Can't wait to see what you create. The winner from this challenge will not only get a stamp set of their choice, but also a pack of mint and peach sequins. Yay!